A “Time Bomb” is set to go off at GLORY 100 this weekend, as Michael Boapeah looks to avenge an earlier title fight loss to middleweight champ Donovan Wisse.
This is a milestone event for the kickboxing promotion, one that Boapeah is thrilled to be a part of. A former coffin maker, the Ghanaian-Dutch striker has some big goals moving forward. Step one, win gold this Saturday. Step two, a long reign, then perhaps a title in a second weight class, and even a jump to MMA.
“I turned 25 last month, I have a lot of fighting heart in me still. I would love to be an active champion, and I would love also to maybe be champion in another weight class also,” Boapeah told Cageside Press in a recent exclusive interview. “Yeah, I just want to be active, and after when I check all of my things I want to do in kickboxing, maybe I want to look and go to another sport. Maybe MMA, maybe boxing. But for now I want to put my focus on the belt.”
Watching fighters like Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira make the transition to MMA, and eventually the top of the UFC, have shown Michael Boapeah that such a career path is possible for him as well.
“It’s possible, yeah, when you see those guys do it— and I think my standup is better than those guys, not to be cocky but that’s what I almost know. And you see those guys doing it so good in the UFC, making a lot of money, putting their families straight— it would be so, like now I have the chance to fully focus on my career. I want to take everything that’s in it, out of it.”
For Boapeah, the #2 ranked middleweight kickboxer in the world and still young in his career, the possibility of a switch to MMA is also about not having any regrets later in life. “Why not try, not later when you’re 50, you’re like ‘aww why didn’t I try this, why didn’t I try that?’ I want to try everything so when I’m an old man later I can sit down, chill, and think that I did everything on my bucket list.”
Step one, however, comes back to the fight with Wisse. The pair’s first bout saw Boapeah lose a unanimous decision. He hasn’t lost since, rattling off five straight victories, with finishes in his last two.
How does he see the rematch at GLORY 100 playing out? With gold, in the end. “I see it finishing with me as champion. The way it’s going to end, I cannot tell, I don’t want to make people smarter. But for sure, if he acts too aggressive, it’ll be a short night for him.”
Watch our full interview with GLORY 100 middleweight title challenger Michael Boapeah above. The card streams live on DAZN this Saturday, June 14, 2025 at the Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
